Jumbo King looking for strategic partner to fund expansion plan

The Mumbai-based chain wants to scale up operations in the country and increase spending on marketing to better face the challenge from multinationals such as McDonald’s, Dominos, Burger King and Carl’s Jr.Avinder Batra | ETRetail | September 24, 2015, 17:53 IST

Fastfood chain Jumbo King is looking for a strategic partner who can invest Rs 65-100 crore to fund its expansion plans, the company’s founder, Dheeraj Gupta, said.NEW DELHI: Fastfood chain Jumbo King is looking for a strategic partner who can invest Rs 65-100 crore to fund its expansion plans, the company’s founder, Dheeraj Gupta, said.

The Mumbai-based chain wants to scale up operations in the country and increase spending on marketing to better face the challenge from multinationals such as McDonald’s, Dominos, Burger King and Carl’s Jr. As part of strategy, it is planning to promote ‘vada pav’ as the ‘Indian burger’.

“We feel we have systems in place and have reached the inflection point and should go national with a stated aim of opening our 1,000th store by 2020,” said Gupta. “The company has been cash positive for the last three years and growing at 25% year-on-year.”

Gupta said he is looking for an investor who understands food space and appreciates the power of franchising. The company plans to use the funds for marketing and appointing senior leaders to accentuate the company’s business. “Till date, we have grown with almost zero marketing budget, but now is the time to use funds like Domino’s and others who continue to spend on marketing to be on the top of consumer’s mind,” Gupta said.

He said India’s food market has huge potential, growing at a compounded rate of 32% y-o-y, adding that if a home-grown brand like Jumbo King is able to scale up to 1,000 stores, it will set an example for other home-grown food brands to scale up too.

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